Live Video: Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty’s voice, along with his exceptional songwriting, is what sets his music apart from your average acoustic alt-rock singer. It’s deep, sweet, and sleepy, exhausted with what could be perceived as sadness or apathy. It’s the kind of voice that could say anything and believably follow it with “but I don’t care.” But Doughty definitely does care, and his investment in his music and the world around him is part of what makes his songwriting so powerful. Doughty began performing as a solo artist after a destructive breakup with his band Soul Coughing in 2000, driving across the country alone with his guitar overcoming a crippling heroin addiction. Doughty candidly describes himself as bipolar, depressed, and an addict, issues he addresses in an upfront and self-lacerating manner in real life and much more subtly and artistically in his lyrics. Even as he discusses his former band and the abusive nature of their relationship, he does so without a trace of bitterness in his voice, honestly and openly reflecting on his past and its impact on his music and himself. “I had to be there to be here, and here is awesome.” Check out the full interview and acoustic performance, featuring a song he technically wrote with Nikki Sixx, below: